Students design a space station

Concurrent Design Facility at ESTEC

11 February 2002

30 students from all over Europe have an opportunity next week to design their own space station, in ESA's unique Concurrent Design Facility. The interdisciplinary approach of the task encourages the participation not only of aerospace engineering students, but also architects and business studies students.

The Space Station Design Workshop is being held at ESA's technical centre, ESTEC from 17 to 22 February and is open to students from all ESA Member States. It is a joint initiative between ESA and the University of Stuttgart. Throughout the week, the 30 graduate (or near-graduate) students, selected from over 180 applications, have the opportunity to learn and practice systems engineering applied to the conceptual design of a space station and to network with ESA experts and fellow space enthusiasts.

State-of-the-art facility

In the unique environment of ESA's Concurrent Design Facility (CDF) the students will use advanced design methodology and custom-built tools to carry out their task. They will be divided into two teams and will be requested to fulfil a mission statement generated by ESA in close co-operation with the university of Stuttgart. A public presentation of the best design will be made on the last day of the workshop, Friday 22 February.

The CDF is a state-of-the-art facility equipped with a network of computers, multi-media devices and software tools, which allows a team of multi-disciplinary experts to apply the concurrent engineering method to space mission design. It facilitates a fast and effective interaction of all disciplines involved, ensuring consistent, high-quality results.